The loss estimates might be considered net in terms of the antie 
ceterioretion meesures then in effect, but not including possible 
measures to bring new land into preduction and to increase the 
productivity of the existing cropland. 
During the base pericd about 1 million acres were added annually 
to the Nation's creplend over and above the loss of 500,000 acres 
from soil deterioration and 250,000 acres from urban and industrial 
encroachment. In addition, much of the cropland listed as subject 
to little or no deterioration was undergoing improvement through 
ohysiesl and management innuts. 
Nor should the annual rate of loss necessarily be considered 
constant. Expanded applications of conservation and reclamation 
measures, of course, would reduce the rate of loss, and any slack- 
ing off of such applications would result in a higher rate. In 
192 the national soil and water conservation program was in its 
early stages. The extent to which the effects of this program 
were heing felt during the base pericd is indicated by the following 
acre~equivalents of lend upon which conservation had been applied 
by farmers and ranchers ccoperating with soil conservation districts: 
Calender Year Cum ative 
192 7,942,000 15,83h,000 
1951 25,620,000 1506 ,066 ,000 
While the job of applying and mainteining conservation measures 
on the Nation's farmlanc remsins a tremendous one, the figures 
above show clearly that the trend in the application of such 
measures has been steadily upward. 
As already indicated in the introductcry paragraphs of this chapter, 
land value is net necessarily a valid measure of the preductive 
condition of the scil. The totel value of farm real estate in the 
United States is affected by soil deterioretion, by soil imprcevement, 
by increased productivity due to increased use of inputs other than 
land, and by changes in management. However, cherges in the tetel 
market value are inflvenced much more by fluctuations in the general . 
level of prices and through the interplay of supply and demand for 
land and the preducts of land. A lock at farmisnd values over the 
last 30 years shows the following cyclical changes: 
From a high of over #66 billion in 1920, the total reported 
value of farm real estate dropped to $30 billion in the de- 
pression year of 1933. By 1952, however, without any large 
change in total acreage, the total value had trebled to $9) 
billion. It is semevhat lower now, the drop from July 1952 
to July 1953 being about 4 percent, Clearly, such wide 
fluctuations tend to mask the effects of soil deterioration 
and of offsetting factcrs of soil imprevement. 
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